[Comment] Building evidence to improve maternal and child health

January 13, 2016

The Lancet 387, 10014 (2016)

Author: David Olds

Giving children the best possible start in life is crucial to reduce health disparities.1 One of the UK Government’s efforts to support young children has been to adapt and assess the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP), a programme of prenatal and early childhood home visiting for vulnerable first-time mothers and their children. In The Lancet, Michael Robling and colleagues2 report on Building Blocks, a multisite trial of the FNP in England. My colleagues and I3,4 have developed and tested this programme previously in three randomised trials in the USA.